The Ocean
Having just gotten home from a weekend at the ocean, this song speaks to my heart. I would like to share part of it with you. It is from the group Salvador, off their CD "Into Motion."
Well it's another day
and I'm thinking about the things I want to say
but my thoughts are like clouds
drifting far away
Well, I admit I doubt some times that I'm on Your mind
just another face
looking up from the crowd
searching for a way to talk to You now
sometimes I feel small in the scope of it all
and then
I'm reminded again...
That the very same God that dreamt of the ocean
set the stars into place
He knows me by name
The very same God that put the world into motion
is listening today, He hears what I say
when I pray...when I pray
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The very same God that created the ocean we sit by, also knows us by name. Why do we love the ocean? Why do we drive miles to sit in the sand and listen to the waves crashing on the beach? Why do we "huddle" around its edges, so to speak.
Have you ever thought about that? As I sat there this morning looking out at the coastline that curved around the sea, I noticed houses and piers and boardwalks constructed right up to the water's edge. It seems if they could have jumped into the sea, they would have. The surfers did. They took their boards out and rode the waves. The strollers did, they walked along the shore and let the water curl around their ankles. The dogs did, they played catch with their owners and jumped and leaped through the waves in delight.
We all do. We all seem to love the sound of the waves, the power they display, the sand that can be formed into many different shapes or simply molded around our body as we lay our towel down to catch a few rays.
Why do we love the ocean so much? Are we searching for something that we miss
in our everyday life? Are we seeking the peace that can be found there? Does
the roar from the waves drown out the roar from the crowds we have left behind?
Are we comforted with the vastness that seems overwhelming when thinking about
how far the water stretches or the amount of sand that lies beneath its surface?
It is an awesome sight!
A great place to be!
And we are drawn to it!
Could it be that we are drawn to it because of how similar to God it is? How
much it speaks His name, even when we might not know Him? I know that I am
even more drawn to it now because I do know Him and it speaks His name to me!
I see Him in the beauty of the waves that crash while the sunlight filters
through them. I see Him in the many grains of sand along the shore that remind
me of Abraham and God's promise to Him about the family He would have. When I
sit by the seashore and read God's word about building a home on solid rock
instead of shifting sand, it becomes real to me. The sand beneath our feet
will wash away with a most peculiar feeling when the wave retreats back into
the ocean. It is very clear that we are not standing on solid ground when that
experience occurs. And yet, if we were to find a rock buried in the sand and
stand upon it as the wave receded, there would be a much more secure feeling
to it. Is the Bible that hard to understand when we have been given
such a clear picture of God's wisdom in the very world we live in each
day? Real life experiences are used to describe what God is teaching us. What
a great classroom He has given us!
Jesus says in Matthew 7:26-27
But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish,
like a person who builds a house on sand.
When the rains and floods come and the
winds beat against that house, it will
fall with a mighty crash.
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We just wouldn't do it! We know better! If we built like that, it would never last but be washed out to the sea in no time. The foundation would never set, unless we drove our foundation down further than the layer of sand into something solid underneath.
Our lives are shifting like that sand. Every day! Each day brings about storms and floods and winds that beat against us. If our lives have not been set on a firm foundation, we will be washed out to sea. We will be lost, and we will wonder what happened!!
"Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me
is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock."
Matthew 7:24
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That's what I witnessed looking at the coastline this morning. Homes and buildings built on the solid rock that lines the shore. Just far enough back to be secure, but also close enough to enjoy the sound of the waves, the beauty of the sunsets, and the dolphins that seemed to be numerous this weekend! What beauty to behold! But it wouldn't be beautiful if there was no security. It would be scary. You would never know what the next wave held, what disaster it might bring, how it might beat you down and hold you under longer than your breath could hold out. We would not build our homes on those shifting sands, but we build our lives on them and then wonder what happened? Why they can be such a disaster!
One of the gals I was with this weekend wondered out loud about God, and whether He sees every swirl of the sand, every bubble created by every wave that crashes. Does God see it all and is He in control of it all, or did He just create it all and then let it be as it may? Good question, and one that we probably will never have an exact answer to while still on this earth, except for the answers that are given to us in His word. The only problem being our thinking is still limited and we cannot fully understand the scope of God, His all-knowing nature and His all-caring grace towards us all.
When I read this morning in Matthew 10:29 that "Not even a sparrow worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it." I was comforted. I looked up at the birds flying by and thought about this verse, and about my friend's question, and it seemed that God was giving me the answer as best I could understand it. He knows every sparrow that falls out of the sky, so I can be pretty assured that He knows every swirl of the sand on the beach as each and every wave He creates crashes down upon it.
I don't think that God put us here to be confused. I think He gave us all these great illustrations in the Bible because He knows what children we are and He knows as His children we have a lot of questions. Children wonder about stuff and they usually drive their parents crazy with questions about why things are as they are, and they look at things that we've grown tired of and they are still amazed by it. They don't hurry through the world missing out on the simple joys. They laugh much more often than we do because they haven't yet had that laughter squeezed out of them by this world. It just comes naturally, but that playful nature changes in us over time, especially in hard times--it can be lost for awhile. Funny how things change when times get hard. I'll reveal something really silly to you to make this point clear, as to how things can go strangely missing when our joy has gone missing.
When Phil was still alive and I sneezed, for some strange unknown reason to me, I would say "accumba." I'm not sure that is even a word, and I don't know how it started, but as I sneezed, it would not come out "atchu" but "accumba." It might have been something that started between Phil and me in our silliness together and maybe my heart knew that he got a kick out it when I wasn't even aware of doing it. Many months after he was gone, I noticed that I never sneezed "accumba" anymore. It just came out as a sneeze, and I went on my way. When I noticed this, I questioned what had happened, why it had changed, and I think it was pretty clear. My joy had gone missing, my gaiety in life was quenched for awhile and there was no laughter in my heart. Life was serious, dead serious, if you'll excuse the pun. I lived and I breathed, but laughter was not natural, jokes were not even funny and I didn't care to even hear them. A huge wave had crashed upon my "house" and I was struggling to come up for air. I had no time for lighthearted humor. Anything that had been built upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ was all I had left, and when the wave washed back into the sea, if I was not standing firm on that Rock, I would have been washed back out into the sea also.
As the months went on after noticing that my "accumba" sneezes had gone strangely missing, the fun and the laughter did return and continues to do so, but I'm not sure if this strange sneeze ever will return. I think it was a personal joke between Phil and me and it means nothing to anyone else. When he left, it left, it was washed out to sea.
The solid Rock that I stand on is the firm foundation that begins a new life for me. A new way of doing things. The "house" that I lived in has not been washed out to sea, but every room has been gone through and the strong currents have redecorated my life. I don't sit along the ocean and take for granted the wisdom and scope of God. It is my very life. When the scriptures speak of foolish people building a house on sand as compared to solid rock, I get it! I know disaster and I know that sand is good for some things, but rocks are definitely needed also.
We can go to the beach and enjoy the sand, sift through it, build castles in it, restructure it to fit our pleasures, but it's not where we want to be when a hurricane hits! We will run for cover, for something that is built solid and will protect us from the elements. We know where those places are and we use them wisely. That is all God is asking of us. Know Him, know His wisdom and use it wisely. Don't be a fool who sits on the beach when the hurricane is headed for shore. Know His Word and build your house on it. Use it for your protection when life is hard, and then even when life is good, knowing His word will add a greater enjoyment to your every day.
I don't sit at the beach as I once did, not knowing the storms of life. I sit there knowing those storms and being grateful for the protection of a mighty God. It doesn't diminish my life to know this. It doesn't steal my joy anymore because I know hurricanes can hit the shore (excuse the pun with the name!) but I sit there knowing that no matter what comes, God is more powerful than it is. Having a firm foundation doesn't leave you sitting there trembling at the latest weather report, it allows you the peace to rest between the storms knowing that when the next one hits, and it will, that you are prepared.
That is why God uses these illustrations. Not to confuse us, but to teach His children. To put it in a way that we can see it in this world and apply it to our lives. Isn't that cool? I love being able to go to the beach and enjoy His creation while also getting a lesson about life at the same time.
Why are people drawn to the ocean? Probably for many different reasons. Some come
for fun in the sun, surfing on the waves, or running their dog, but I would venture
to say that most come to find peace of some sort. Whether that be splashing in
the waves or sitting on the sand soaking up the beauty. The world is at your
back and all of the ocean stretches out before you. The water glistens and the
seagulls sing, the sailboats glide on by and for just that moment in time, time
can be left alone. The city noises, the hum of the computer, the ring of the
telephone is not running through your head, only the sound of the waves--and
it is good.
And God said, "let the waters swarm with fish and
other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind."
So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish
and every kind of bird. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:20-21
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God wants us to see that it is good also! That He created it for our pleasure. He supplied all that we need in this world to draw closer to Him if we will only stop long enough to do just that. One of the greatest places to do that is sitting there at the edge of His ocean and soaking Him in.
Why are we drawn to the ocean? Do we find the peace we long for there? The peace promised when Jesus said, "Peace be with you." (Luke 24:36) It's not as the world knows it, but as God created it. God is the creator of peace. If we try to find it elsewhere, it eludes us, until we come to Him looking for it--until we pull up our chair to the edge of the sea and put the rest of the world behind us.
Then God said, "Let the waters beneath the sky be
gathered into one place so dry ground may appear."
And so it was. God names the dry ground "land" and the
water "seas."
And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 9-10
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You know all that we need to get through each day, Lord. You know when we have lost our "accumba" and it needs to be restored. You knew before the world ever came into being that we would get lost in it all--that we would go searching for answers, and that many of those answers would be found when You created the seas for us.
As the song above says, You are the very same God that "dreamt of the
ocean and set the stars into place." You didn't do it without reason.
There are very good reasons behind everything You have ever done. Your solid
foundation is what we all need, and we can find it when we sit upon the
shifting sand You created and search for your solid Rock, Jesus Christ. You
call us there out of our busy world and into Yours to pray to You and find the
peace that You alone provide.
Thank You!
Living in His peace and joy,
Diane
